1 Introduction
A cause-effect chain is a sequence of multi-rate real-time tasks with data dependency and usually completes a specific functionality. For example, in modern automotive systems, inputs (i.e., stimulus) are generally first captured by the first task in a cause-effect chain, processed by intermediate tasks, until corresponding outputs (i.e., actuation signals) are generated via the last task. For each pair of consecutive tasks, the successor task reads the outputs generated by its predecessor task. The end-to-end latency of cause-effect chains describes how long it takes for a cause-effect chain to complete desired functionality, and cause-effect chains are usually subject to end-to-end timing constraints. To guarantee the functionality completes within the required time interval in worst cases, it is necessary to perform formal end-to-end timing analysis.